The narration is incredible. I’m honestly wondering how much more I would have enjoyed the first book if I had listened to Rachel Dulude tell me the story.

I am a sucker for AI stories though so there’s that too. But this one is fantastic. I loved the characters, the setting, and omg that ending.

The best part about this is that scene with Silas, Dom and Jon.

This is a fun, wild post apocalyptic western-ish romp. The plot and pacing were fantastic. Scarlett and Albert are great characters. The narration was wonderful. I will look forward to book #2.

3.5 stars

I liked Last Summer at the Golden Hotel better but this was entertaining. It’s a very similar story - an emotionally distant family are forced to share space and in doing so, all their calamitous secrets rise to the surface, eventually bringing them all together. But this is a story that Friedland does well, so to that extent, I don’t mind at all reading the same basic story in different settings.

I only like Golden Hotel better because … well, it was funnier, frankly. In this book, there’s a certain ironies but comparatively fewer laugh out loud moments. (The nose hair thing was the one that got me, really.) In Golden Hotel, there’s ironies but also some really good quips and humorous catastrophes and such.

All in all, I liked this but I think The Last Summer at the Golden Hotel did it better.